Jason Schreier - A new Mass Effect is in early development at BioWare

[Kid Heart]

Cool, with EA having a stranglehold on Star Wars, I was worried they might stop working on this series for the foreseeable future. Part of me wonders though if they might be doing this because they are afraid of potentially losing the Star Wars license if Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order doesn't do well...

 

[DocSeuss]

Alright sluts, listen up: I'm an expert on all things Mass Effect (several degrees and two masters, a thousand plus hours on-field experience), so here's the lowdown.

• Destroy ending plus Geth/AI survive, with various amalgamations of choices and whatever additions/changes BioWare feel is relevant. Essentially an end-state that is technically not achievable by anyone in the Trilogy, thus providing a neutral blank canvas for everyone, but draws from the Trilogy's best-case-scenario situations for potential of broader storytelling.

• Reapers are dead as dead. The Illusive Man and Cerberus absolutely obliterated in all forms. Quarians and Geth united on Rannoch. Krogan live and Genophage cured, under the rule of Wrex.
• No synthesis. All ending slides for all endings negated and irrelevant to this canon timeline.
• Relays damaged but under repair.
• Shepard dead as dead.

• Galaxy is in a post-war depression. Each species is balancing the optimism of having conquered the Reapers alongside the stress of what is next. Each species confronted with the reality of the war; collecting and burying their dead that number in billions, evaluating the destruction and rebuilding worlds where possible, aiding refugees and those in crisis despite the war having ended, all the while scrambling for stability and resources. Post war tension and desperation, like a simmering pot, not unlike WW2 -> Cold War.

• Damaged relays make connecting between worlds more difficult than before, despite repairs. Resource scarcity and changes in the political landscape lead to a mandate for looser restrictions on Relay activation. New relays are activated and opened, with some caution, in order for species to quickly find garden worlds to populate and ease the burden of the post war crisis.
• Krogan and Quarian/Geth Unity in the most advantageous position due to their isolated victories. Asari decimated due to destruction and loss of homeworld. Turians forming new alliances. Salarians retreating into secrecy due to conservative attitudes to the war. Humans doing whatever humans do (boring stuff).

• Relay activation allows for exploring new, previously uncharted regions of the galaxy. New planets/systems/etc. Work a story of new discoveries in here.
• System found outside of Relay network. System is home to new species that has advanced to spacefaring technology without the use of any Reaper tech. Theory being a Relay for that system, or planet housing technology, was destroyed early on in some natural galactic cataclysm, and thus fell completely off the Reaper's radar with each cycle (the lore supports this, as the Reapers use the Relay network and Citadel hub to navigate and monitor the galaxy). New species has had the fortune of essentially being able to evolve and develop over millennia outside of Reaper influence and knowledge, giving them a totally unique technological evolutionary path. Reaper extinction cycles have been going on unbeknown to them (maybe they document strange galactic phenomena, but not sure what it is).
• Narrative explores their introduction to the rest of the galaxy, especially given their stability.

• New protagonist. New set of squadmates. Cameo and/or references to previous cast only.
• Level/game design similar to Mass Effect 2/3. Listen I love open explorable zones and feel the future of the series would benefit tremendously from them. I just don't think BioWare necessarily has the chops to do them well. It's not their forte, so I'd rather them pull off something they evidently can do well.
• Lots of planets and locations to visit, even if we're only there briefly. Planet hopping is important.
• Tighter cover shoot/bang/biotic/tech stuff and not the bullet sponge Destiny-lite stuff from Andromeda.

• Andromeda is a solid premise and I actually grew to enjoy it more than I thought once I finally saw it through a month ago, and I do want to see the mysteries resolved. But the lukewarm execution of the lore, premise, galaxy itself, cast, etc dampened the entire experience. Despite the intrigue I'm not actually sure I want to go back, and I don't know how salvageable it is, even if a ~good video game~ is made in that framework. I'm not sure Mass Effect fans by and large will care.
• Ignore people obsessing over Trilogy canon. Everybody had their own experience, their own Shepard, their own timeline, and their own choices and ending. It's obviously logistically impossible to cater to these people and a separate timeline starting a new canon on the bedrock of the trilogy does not negate a players individual, personal experience with the trilogy. The above hypothetical is simply not my Shepard from the trilogy, and if you're careful with the lore then it's nobodies Shepard.
• Absolutely no prequels. They're inherently limited in storytelling and scope and will forever have the trilogy's baggage hanging overhead.
• No remakes. Remaster the trilogy and leave it as that. Move forward.

This is my fan fiction, thank you for reading.

Click to shrink...

it's alright but a full remake of the first game with good gameplay for the first time in the series would be even better

 

[Speely]

Start from scratch, use Unreal Engine 4 and build using next generation tech.

Take your time, don't focus on any sort of GaaS model and hire the Mass Effect 1 writer to pen the story.

Click to shrink...

I am with this.

I would add this: take the best parts of the combat from ME2, 3, and Andromeda as a basis for the action gameplay. Each game had worthwhile and even great elements in that regard.

Edit: More than just the writing from ME1, I would look to it for presentation and overall tone. It felt like a distinctive, exciting universe largely due to that, imo.

 

[Deleted member 17184]

Cool, with EA having a stranglehold on Star Wars, I was worried they might stop working on this series for the foreseeable future. Part of me wonders though if they might be doing this because they are afraid of potentially losing the Star Wars license if Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order doesn't do well...

Click to shrink...

These games don't really compete with each other - the same way The Outer Worlds sold well despite coming just a few weeks before Star Wars. They've been in pre-pro of the Next Mass Effect since 2017, if you look at the N7 Day tweets from Mike Gamble and Casey Hudson back then.

 

[SofNascimento]

Alright sluts, listen up: I'm an expert on all things Mass Effect (several degrees and two masters, a thousand plus hours on-field experience), so here's the lowdown.

• Destroy ending plus Geth/AI survive, with various amalgamations of choices and whatever additions/changes BioWare feel is relevant. Essentially an end-state that is technically not achievable by anyone in the Trilogy, thus providing a neutral blank canvas for everyone, but draws from the Trilogy's best-case-scenario situations for potential of broader storytelling.

• Reapers are dead as dead. The Illusive Man and Cerberus absolutely obliterated in all forms. Quarians and Geth united on Rannoch. Krogan live and Genophage cured, under the rule of Wrex.
• No synthesis. All ending slides for all endings negated and irrelevant to this canon timeline.
• Relays damaged but under repair.
• Shepard dead as dead.

• Galaxy is in a post-war depression. Each species is balancing the optimism of having conquered the Reapers alongside the stress of what is next. Each species confronted with the reality of the war; collecting and burying their dead that number in billions, evaluating the destruction and rebuilding worlds where possible, aiding refugees and those in crisis despite the war having ended, all the while scrambling for stability and resources. Post war tension and desperation, like a simmering pot, not unlike WW2 -> Cold War.

• Damaged relays make connecting between worlds more difficult than before, despite repairs. Resource scarcity and changes in the political landscape lead to a mandate for looser restrictions on Relay activation. New relays are activated and opened, with some caution, in order for species to quickly find garden worlds to populate and ease the burden of the post war crisis.
• Krogan and Quarian/Geth Unity in the most advantageous position due to their isolated victories. Asari decimated due to destruction and loss of homeworld. Turians forming new alliances. Salarians retreating into secrecy due to conservative attitudes to the war. Humans doing whatever humans do (boring stuff).

• Relay activation allows for exploring new, previously uncharted regions of the galaxy. New planets/systems/etc. Work a story of new discoveries in here.
• System found outside of Relay network. System is home to new species that has advanced to spacefaring technology without the use of any Reaper tech. Theory being a Relay for that system, or planet housing technology, was destroyed early on in some natural galactic cataclysm, and thus fell completely off the Reaper's radar with each cycle (the lore supports this, as the Reapers use the Relay network and Citadel hub to navigate and monitor the galaxy). New species has had the fortune of essentially being able to evolve and develop over millennia outside of Reaper influence and knowledge, giving them a totally unique technological evolutionary path. Reaper extinction cycles have been going on unbeknown to them (maybe they document strange galactic phenomena, but not sure what it is).
• Narrative explores their introduction to the rest of the galaxy, especially given their stability.

• New protagonist. New set of squadmates. Cameo and/or references to previous cast only.
• Level/game design similar to Mass Effect 2/3. Listen I love open explorable zones and feel the future of the series would benefit tremendously from them. I just don't think BioWare necessarily has the chops to do them well. It's not their forte, so I'd rather them pull off something they evidently can do well.
• Lots of planets and locations to visit, even if we're only there briefly. Planet hopping is important.
• Tighter cover shoot/bang/biotic/tech stuff and not the bullet sponge Destiny-lite stuff from Andromeda.

• Andromeda is a solid premise and I actually grew to enjoy it more than I thought once I finally saw it through a month ago, and I do want to see the mysteries resolved. But the lukewarm execution of the lore, premise, galaxy itself, cast, etc dampened the entire experience. Despite the intrigue I'm not actually sure I want to go back, and I don't know how salvageable it is, even if a ~good video game~ is made in that framework. I'm not sure Mass Effect fans by and large will care.
• Ignore people obsessing over Trilogy canon. Everybody had their own experience, their own Shepard, their own timeline, and their own choices and ending. It's obviously logistically impossible to cater to these people and a separate timeline starting a new canon on the bedrock of the trilogy does not negate a players individual, personal experience with the trilogy. The above hypothetical is simply not my Shepard from the trilogy, and if you're careful with the lore then it's nobodies Shepard.
• Absolutely no prequels. They're inherently limited in storytelling and scope and will forever have the trilogy's baggage hanging overhead.
• No remakes. Remaster the trilogy and leave it as that. Move forward.

This is my fan fiction, thank you for reading.

Click to shrink...

That's a very nice scenario. I believe the "race outside the relays" doesn't need to be there, but it could work. I'd change them for the Leviathans.

I'll will disagree with anything good said about Andromeda. So the only right approach here is utterly and completely ignore it ever existed.

And although I think picking a canon scenario might be a good choice, I don't think it's a trivial choice. Mass Effect being your story and having no canon is one of the defining aspects of the trilogy. I do like the idea of being nobody's Shepard though. It's a good way to approach it.

 

[Vinc]

Very few things would make me happier than Bioware turning things around. This sounds like they're on a good path and I'm rooting for them. Really hope they can pull it off.

 

[ReactionShot]

Thought: Canon destroy ending + Shepard MIA + Genophage Cured/Eve Died + Select old Normandy members and new characters trying to reconnect the Galaxy while fighting Krogan fighters mutated with salvaged Reaper tech + Turian/Asari empire fallen to the hands of Krogan (enslaved Turian/Asari)

 

[EatChildren]

it's alright but a full remake of the first game with good gameplay for the first time in the series would be even better

Click to shrink...

Acceptable (I think they have good gameplay but I get what you mean).

That's a very nice scenario. I believe the "race outside the relays" doesn't need to be there, but it could work. I'd change them for the Leviathans.

I'll will disagree with anything good said about Andromeda. So the only right approach here is utterly and completely ignore it ever existed.

And although I think picking a canon scenario might be a good choice, I don't think it's a trivial choice. Mass Effect being your story and having no canon is one of the defining aspects of the trilogy. I do like the idea of being nobody's Shepard though. It's a good way to approach it.

Click to shrink...

Main reason I want a new race is to inject a narrative beat that helps lead the lore and story in a new direction without disrupting what existed before. First contact was squandered in Andromeda, so I'd like to see them do it again, and I think there's interesting complications that arise with the concept of the rest of the galaxy coming out of literally the worst possible war ever imaginable onto to bump into another species that is going through no such struggles. It's that extra bit of tension to explore.

Andromeda is a game I don't love but yeah, I ended up liking bits and pieces. I think the Scourge is a great idea. Despite the Remnant being unoriginal tripe at the start I liked the broader implications by the end. The revelations with the Initiative itself relative to the trilogy tie back nicely. They sewed seeds for another game, but yeah. Though I'm less cynical about it, I don't really feel there's many interesting places to take the story based what they've built. I'm happy for it to be part of the lore (the revelations make it more contextually believable anyway), but I don't need to go back.

Main reason I think picking a canon is a bad idea is because it'll naturally harbour cynicism with groups of fans who feel they're being unaccounted for in favour of others. I also think it stifles the most interesting setup; everyone survives, war is over. Destroy isn't possible without all AI being nuked, which I think is dumb. And Control and Synthesis are too scattered as endings for me to find them all that interesting. The idea of Mass Effect 4 having a bedrock canon that is technically not achievable by anyone is the trilogy is very much playing to the idea that there is no canon. I don't mean drastic changes or anything, moreso stuff like Destroy + AI Survive, which is technically an impossible canon. Much like a clean slate Shepard that doesn't belong to everyone, I like the idea of the universe itself being a clean slate with more than enough familiarity that everybody feels like it's a continuation of the saga, but also not just picking one ending and rolling with it, where some players feel they've been favoured and others feel the opposite.

 

[Gallows Bat]

Great! Andromeda was a step down but still really fun and showed alot of potential, hyped for this.

 

[SofNascimento]

Main reason I want a new race is to inject a narrative beat that helps lead the lore and story in a new direction without disrupting what existed before. First contact was squandered in Andromeda, so I'd like to see them do it again, and I think there's interesting complications that arise with the concept of the rest of the galaxy coming out of literally the worst possible war ever imaginable onto to bump into another species that is going through no such struggles. It's that extra bit of tension to explore.

Andromeda is a game I don't love but yeah, I ended up liking bits and pieces. I think the Scourge is a great idea. Despite the Remnant being unoriginal tripe at the start I liked the broader implications by the end. The revelations with the Initiative itself relative to the trilogy tie back nicely. They sewed seeds for another game, but yeah. Though I'm less cynical about it, I don't really feel there's many interesting places to take the story based what they've built. I'm happy for it to be part of the lore (the revelations make it more contextually believable anyway), but I don't need to go back.

Main reason I think picking a canon is a bad idea is because it'll naturally harbour cynicism with groups of fans who feel they're being unaccounted for in favour of others. I also think it stifles the most interesting setup; everyone survives, war is over. Destroy isn't possible without all AI being nuked, which I think is dumb. And Control and Synthesis are too scattered as endings for me to find them all that interesting. The idea of Mass Effect 4 having a bedrock canon that is technically not achievable by anyone is the trilogy is very much playing to the idea that there is no canon. I don't mean drastic changes or anything, moreso stuff like Destroy + AI Survive, which is technically an impossible canon. Much like a clean slate Shepard that doesn't belong to everyone, I like the idea of the universe itself being a clean slate with more than enough familiarity that everybody feels like it's a continuation of the saga, but also not just picking one ending and rolling with it, where some players feel they've been favoured and others feel the opposite.

Click to shrink...

It would, yes. Would you just forget the Leviathans though?

Also, what revelations you mean that make Andromeda more believable?

 

[EatChildren]

It would, yes. Would you just forget the Leviathans though?

Also, what revelations you mean that make Andromeda more believable?

Click to shrink...

Not sure what I'd do with the Leviathans. I like them as a concept but I also feel they're shackled too heavily to the Reapers for me to want them to be a major player in a sequel. I really want the trilogy and all its major beats to be fully concluded, and whatever happens next to moreso deal with the repercussions and forward momentum of the Milky Way. There's probably a lot that can be done with the Leviathans, but I guess I just prefer them to be a species who've had their time and their story is over; too dwindled, too low in numbers to be significant, and now that the war is over largely irrelevant.

With Andromeda I was more thinking of how ]the initiative ran out of money and was ultimately funded by a benefactor who had the primary goal of escaping the Reaper threat. Brings it full circle, and I'm happy with that.

 

[grand]

EA trying to save a studio instead of shutting it down immediately is the biggest plot twist of all

 

[SofNascimento]

Not sure what I'd do with the Leviathans. I like them as a concept but I also feel they're shackled too heavily to the Reapers for me to want them to be a major player in a sequel. I really want the trilogy and all its major beats to be fully concluded, and whatever happens next to moreso deal with the repercussions and forward momentum of the Milky Way. There's probably a lot that can be done with the Leviathans, but I guess I just prefer them to be a species who've had their time and their story is over; too dwindled, too low in numbers to be significant, and now that the war is over largely irrelevant.

With Andromeda I was more thinking of how ]the initiative ran out of money and was ultimately funded by a benefactor who had the primary goal of escaping the Reaper threat. Brings it full circle, and I'm happy with that.

Click to shrink...

I'm not happy with anything Andromeda related... but enough with my overly negative and sometimes, albeit rarely, unfair criticism towards that game.

And I wouldn't mind the Leviathans being sidelined, even though I'd like to see them explored further. Indeed, my explanation for the Arks was them. I thought they were the only race in the Milk Way galaxy capable of building a ship capable to travel to another galaxy and keep it a secret and so not break the stablished lore.

But the idea that there might be a advanced species completely undiscovered have been in my mind since reading that codex entry saying only 1% of the galaxy was explored. I thought it was even possible that destroying the Reapers would be connect with their discovery, but that was a long time ago. (And speaking ill of Andromeda again, that's also why I dislike how they justified the arks so much. The whole idea that there was nothing to explore back in the Milk Way is very stupid)

 

[FLEABttn]

Don't listen to mako whiners this time. Making it a much larger part of ME:A was a mistake.

 

[Deleted member 5359]

Doesn't mean a thing until it's in production.

 

[ThatGuyfromMars]

Is there anyone left at BioWare that worked on the original series? I was under the impression that Casey Hudson left (again) in late 2017 or 2018 along with Mac Walters.

Nevertheless, I like Mass Effect a lot and would love to have another game in the series, but what can one do with that ending in 3? Unless they wanna go back to the First Contact War?

 

[pochi]

Keeping my expectations low.
Please let this be good.

Also Mass Effect 1 kind of soundtrack.

 

[_Karooo]

Zero faith and trust in this studio.

 

[TheUnsungHero26]

I could see this being a reboot. By the time this is released it will be well over 10 years since Mass Effect 3.

I just want to explore the milky way again. There is still so much they can do with it.

Is there anyone left at BioWare that worked on the original series? I was under the impression that Casey Hudson left (again) in late 2017 or 2018 along with Mac Walters.

Click to shrink...

Casey Hudson is back at BioWare as the head of the studio.

 

[noyram23]

Bring it on, despite it's huge flaw I love my time with Andromeda. ME is such a special franchise for me that a mediocre game like Andromeda was still great, that said I hope they don't rely on the 'bioware magic' mantra once again and just deliver a safe product. No experimentation for now, just straight up copy ME1 and 2

And oh please release a trilogy remaster while we wait

 

[Haze]

Just let it go

 

[Metroidvania]

I'm not...overly optimistic with Casey and Gamble - but as long as Mac Walters isn't in I'll be cautiously optimistic.

At least Casey doesn't have to design a trilogy-ender this time around.

 

[HK-47]

Make it good and I'm on-board.

Haha, yeah I'm not a huge fan of prequels either.

Plus in a Bioware RPG they'd have to limit the choices you could make in the end since we know how the first contact war with the Turians went. Plus if it's set in that time there wouldn't be many alien races to interact with to my knowledge.

Click to shrink...

They always limit the choices anyways or minimize/ignore them in the sequel

 

[Quinton]

but as long as Mac Walters isn't in I'll be cautiously optimistic.

Click to shrink...

I think Walters' involvement is highly possible.

 

[Rodney McKay]

They always limit the choices anyways or minimize/ignore them in the sequel

Click to shrink...

You aren't wrong. I still like the feeling that my ending choices are meaningful, even if they do get handwaved away.

 

[Dr. Ludwig]

I'm not...overly optimistic with Casey and Gamble - but as long as Mac Walters isn't in I'll be cautiously optimistic.

At least Casey doesn't have to design a trilogy-ender this time around.

Click to shrink...

Walters involvement is a given since he's been with the series since the beginning.

He is one of the few Mass Effect old guards still at Bioware.

 

[FlintSpace]

Man I remember writing a freaking 20 pages on another forum about what Mass Effect 4 should go about back in 2014.

Yeah of course I am in but gonna wait for reviews like a sane person. Good that Casey Hudson is on the project again.

 

[BrassDragon]

Doesn't mean a thing until it's in production.

Click to shrink...

That's where I'm at. Wake me when there is an actual vision that they're executing on. BioWare always talks a big game about their conceptual work but they've failed at delivering on it for at least three projects going. Remember when Anthem had supposedly cracked the code of integrating meaningful narrative into an MMO? Or when Mass Effect Andromeda was supposed to have exciting exploration? Or when Dragon Age 4 was centered around intrigue and heists? All concepts that got ditched when the realities of project management, business demands and technology limitations hit them. Based on the reports about their past struggles, it's safe to say that when they're being cagey about specifics they simply don't have them.

It's nice that there are people brainstorming and that the franchise isn't dead. But considering how BioWare has been operating for the past decade, it's hard to get excited. I'd settle for a serviceable Dragon Age... getting hyped for a new Mass Effect is a bridge too far right now.

 

[Potterson]

Not sure how anyone can believe this after reading the Kotaku article about what went wrong. That was thoroughly a mismanagement issue at Bioware and the game coming together at the very last minute.

Click to shrink...

What mismanagement has to do with the fact that EA just won't let Bioware make more linear RPG without GaaS element? :P

 

[Deleted member 8196]

And EA just won't allow their first party studio to make traditional single-player AAA game without open world and GaaS elements

Click to shrink...

inb4 "B-BUT THIS DOES NOT COUNT"

 

[Potterson]

inb4 "B-BUT THIS DOES NOT COUNT"

Click to shrink...

Because... it doesn't? Respawn isn't like other studios. I don't know why, but why are they the only one not having to use Frostbite, for example?

DICE and Bioware games always have some signs of "EA-ness" on them for some reason.

 

[Rad]

Andromeda wasn't that bad honestly. With mods it was totally playable and quite fun. It wasn't Mass Effect 1 and 2 level quality by any means but I think it got way too much hate.

 

[Soap]

Whatever they do, they need to scale back on any open world stuff. I'm not saying I want a linear shooter, but having hub areas that slightly branch out would be better.

 

[AYZON]

Been a long time MassEffect fan, but this does nothing for me anymore.
One can only hope Mike can pull them out of the dirt.

 

[TurdFerguson]

Give me that proper follow-up to ME3 Destruction ending(with some liberties for Geth surviving) in a fractured galaxy struggling and reeling after the events of the Reaper war. Don't try to pull another Andromeda to site step those events and fallout. Show us the reapercussions...

Click to shrink...

Agreed. The story and characters of Andromeda never grabbed me at all. Would much rather have them expand on the events in the Milky Way.

 

[StiLteD]

Been a long time MassEffect fan, but this does nothing for me anymore.
One can only hope Mike can pull them out of the dirt.

Click to shrink...

Yeah same. Can't see myself getting excited for a Bioware anything again before I hear positive impressions from people who are literally playing a post release version of whatever it is. They poured napalm on their reputation and lit it with a grenade with the launch quality of both Andromeda and Anthem. Particularly the latter. There's fudging a vertical slice to look better, and then there's just straight up lying to consumers with a representation of something that didn't yet exist and they ultimately utterly failed to deliver on.

Hope they learn from that and find success again, as they were a top tier studio last gen. I'll support them if they do. But yeah just the name of the studio no longer moves the needle in any way for me personally. Trust re quality is gone.

 

[StiLteD]

Andromeda wasn't that bad honestly. With mods it was totally playable and quite fun. It wasn't Mass Effect 1 and 2 level quality by any means but I think it got way too much hate.

Click to shrink...

Yeah after all the eventual fixes I ended up enjoying playing it through as just a decent Sci-fi TPS. There was certainly fun to be had there.

Was just a bad in respect of being Mass Effect game where nothing mattered, and the launch state was inexcusable.

 

[BrassDragon]

Walters involvement is a given since he's been with the series since the beginning.

He is one of the few Mass Effect old guards still at Bioware.

Click to shrink...

He's been really quiet since.... 2017? He was involved with Anthem for a spell, then righted the Andromeda ship as far as possible. For what I can tell, he's just been 'creative director' for the past years. Or do we have any hints what he's been working on?

 

[Akai]

I'll always be interested in more Mass Effect, so I wish them the best of luck with anything they make.

 

[NateDog]

Glad to hear it. Never bothered playing Andromeda as it didn't interest me really from the get go and then after the mess of it's release I just never wanted to go there, but I miss Mass Effect. I've never spent more time with any series than this and I've never spent more time on an individual game than Mass Effect.

 

[fluffy pillow]

I've always thought Mass Effect would benefit from a game that sort of clears the tables after ME3 and sets up the galaxy for a new trilogy. Like a Mass Effect 3.5.

Have a new crew who work for the Citadel or whatever replaced it, so you could be any species. Set during the reconstruction, after the Destroy ending. All the Reapers are gone, Shepard is missing, presumed dead, etc.

And then a survey mission goes missing around a distant star, and a rescue expedition discovers the last Reaper, Harbinger, which escaped the fate of the others but is still dying, under attack from its own metastasing self-repair systems. Something something Great Threat, something something Dire Warning, something something Rumours and Intrigue, and so you, Commander, need to find Shepard, who might still be alive somewhere out there, and bring them to Harbinger, or millions will die.

Basically, find a way to give us a Shepard game and have the other characters we know, but have them not be the focus, so people who want to see the loose ends from the trilogy cleaned up can get that, and people who want something new can get that. If successful, the new crew are the core characters for the next trilogy and the original characters can retire.

 

[Asbsand]

Not sure what I'd do with the Leviathans. I like them as a concept but I also feel they're shackled too heavily to the Reapers for me to want them to be a major player in a sequel.

Click to shrink...

I'm still sour on the fact that it was all pretty invented addressing on the problems of the ending sold as DLC. As an individual campaign Leviathan is pretty awesome because it's all "space noir" but the Leviathans themselves I think dug the hole deeper on the concepts I wasn't on board with regarding the Reaper origins, and it's also another case of the universe feeling way too small and convenient when the initial pitch in ME1 was about how goddamn grand and full of mysteries it was.

I thought ME3 leaned too heavily into wanting immediate closure to the point of leaving no way to continue anything but especially just that as a fiction it felt less and less believable to me by shoehorning solutions and explanations in that Shepard just keeps stumbling upon like he's made of magic.

Either way, they had their chance with the Reaper plot and it is what it is, Leviathans included. So yeah, they should just think about what other things there are in the universe. They need to also stop pretending like there's nothing left to see in the OT setting, even for prequels. I sometimes think the internal team at BioWare has forgotten how big a galaxy is or the fact that, for instance, we see the Thorian pretty suddenly in ME1 and that's just one mysterious race of aliens never mentioned again. You'd be shitting me to say that's all there is in the original galaxy, especially when there are even codex entries in ME1/2 saying "99% of MW is uncharted."

 

[Wrexis]

Death Stranding with Mass Effect. You're connecting planets together again, not cities.

 

[Asbsand]

Death Stranding with Mass Effect. You're connecting planets together again, not cities.

Click to shrink...

That's kind of MEA. You were fixing people's problems and terraforming six worlds, then defending yourself against the Archon and his army until you reconnect the cluster using a magic space macguffin

 

[Cocksman]

Andromeda's biggest failure was that it was boring as fuck...

glad they're taking another shot at Mass Effect. They have to get this one right though or it's truly dead this time.

 

[Shodan14]

excitement level 0 over here

Let's see if they can have a renaissance like a few other devs have had recently, but I'm not holding my breath.

Click to shrink...

100% this.

 

[Asbsand]

Just a little thought: Very Early Development is what it says. DA4 won't come out until 2022.

They're in pre-production while DA4 is in mid-production. Expect that once DA4 wraps up, if BioWare doesn't get prematurely killed as a studio within EA, that ME5 won't enter production until after 2022, and then 1-3 years after that it releases.

It's gonna be a while.

 

[Foxvic]

Finally! Cant wait!

 

[Garlador]

I've long wanted to do a video breaking down what can and should be improved in a hypothetical Mass Effect remaster and sequel, but I've long put it off due to personal issues (hello, newborn baby).

Since Bioware seems to be warming the franchise back up, perhaps I shouldn't put that off much longer. If I'm gonna do that kind of work, right now kind of seems like the crucial time to get it out there...

 

[SofNascimento]

I've long wanted to do a video breaking down what can and should be improved in a hypothetical Mass Effect remaster and sequel, but I've long put it off due to personal issues (hello, newborn baby).

Since Bioware seems to be warming the franchise back up, perhaps I shouldn't put that off much longer. If I'm gonna do that kind of work, right now kind of seems like the crucial time to get it out there...

Click to shrink...

It's your duty as a parent to do everything you can so that your child is born in a world in which Mass Effect is back to its full glory.

Algo, congratulations!